Brewer v. Williams

Mr. Justice White,

with whom Mr. Justice Blackmun and Mr. Justice Rehnquist join, dissenting.

The respondent in this case killed a 10-year-old child. The majority sets aside his conviction, holding that certain *430statements of unquestioned reliability were unconstitutionally obtained from him, and under the circumstances probably makes it impossible to retry him. Because there is nothing in the Constitution or in our previous cases which requires the Court’s action, I dissent.

I

The victim in this case disappeared from a YMCA building in Des Moines, Iowa, on Christmas Eve in 1968. Respondent was…